Electric motor speed control system



Aug- 9 1949- R. H. SULLIVAN l-:T AL 2,478,848

ELECTRIC MOTOR SPEED CONTROL SYSTEM Filed Dec. '7, 1945 ily. 3

/Nsl/LA-r/ oN RHYNoNn h'. sau/ww, VHUGHN h'. HHRDV HND BY HERBERT C'. PURTER THe/R ATTORNEYS INVENTORS iris-32.

Patented Aug. 9, 1949 ifJNiTfE-D STAT-es PATENT OF LFTI-(.1151

'ELECTRIC "MOTOR SPEED CONTROL SYSTEM Raymond 'I l. Sullivan, Vaughn H. Hardy, and Herbert C.' Porter, Rochester, N. Y., assignors -toGeneral Motors"Corporation,l Detroit, Mich.,

a corporation; ofDelawai-e fApplicationiDecember 7, 1945, ySerialfNo..633,466 T13-Claims. (01."318-325) "This invention lrelates to 'improvements to 'governors for commutator `motors and more panticularly Ato a device for preventing sparking at the contacts in the governors at the brushes.

An object of the present invention is to provide 'la circuit' breaker and resistor arrangement in "such -a lgovernor wherein 'the circuit breaker will A'openwhen theY speed ofthe armature faohes jpredetermined 4speed'so'that nospark.-g will occur at the -openingof the circuit breaker nor In the disclosed embodiments or i A further object `removal of the Furtherobjects and advantagesoic the present invention will be apparent froml the iollowingdescription reference being had to the accompanying 'drawings whereinpreferred embodiments -`thepresent invention are clearly shown,

In the drawings:

"'Fig. -l isv an endv viewer the. electric motor em bodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on iine 2-- of *FigJ 3Y isa View taken in .the direction offarrow '"Fig; 4 is' aV sectional view taken online 4.--4 of is a wiring diagram oianiotor including Aswitches Land resistors arranged Yin. accordance with thisiinvention with the switch connections inthe positions assumedat lower normal needs. Figj Gis a wiring'diagram similar to 5, but

" showing a second embodiment of the invention.

Referring to Figs. ,1 tofi inclusive 2! designates a cup-shaped housing of die cast metal and Y c1oses,.a rotating armature core M mounted on shaftY ZdrOtatabIy-supported by bailbea-rings 26 and 21. The bearing is supportedfin a reroces-28 provided at -the'closed end oi the housing `tand thefbearing 2l vis mounted in a suitable re=A lcess 29:.formedinzan end member The outer :raceszfofbearngZl' have a sliding fit in the 29. liin'd'play oi` the-shaft 25 is taken up a spring washer 3i ,having one face thereof bearing'against'the end wall of the recess 23. The

washer 3l is provided with ya plurality ofspring.

cornmutator segments blocksiim said'bosses also axis of the shaft, said grooves recei fingers 3E which preferably engage 'the outer race of bearing ''ias shown.

The open end of the housing 29 isprovided with an annular portion to receive telescopicaily a flange of the end member 39. This end member 3Q is maintained in assembled relation with the housing bv screws 34andiposts135' havinff threaded en ent withthehousing 2L ihe armature es windings 3S attached 'to Si in the ro ermanner. The commutetcr is engaged by a ir yof brushes ionly one of which is shown in F ig 2. 'The brushes are slidable in .guide channels 39 vided by a brush. holder @o of'insulatingjmaterial. Each brush 38 is conne .ed with a terminal'c'lip 4i byla pg'tail d2 soldered thereto, Each brush is urged toward the coinmutatorby Va coil: spring 63. JIn this instance each spring is'mounted upon 'an insulating sleeve or body 4A preferably molded around an extension of the nost'i': see Fig. 2. ,Each spring has one end engaging a stop provided by the end member whilethe other end is guided. in agroove provided in the upper end oi the channel S to .urige abrusb 33 against the conimutator.

'I he brush hoiders 323` an-:iterniinalrclips 4! `are removably attached to theend member by pins di. The `Ibrushholders have arms 'i3 provided with openings to receive bosses of insulating project .through .an opening in the clip Coun'erborejd holes are formed in the bioelss which receive the pins; saidpinsghaving shoulders Vthat seat-against the ledge formed by the counterbore. The-lower ends We: of the pins Si 1er-eject into openings vprovided by end member A iiushaped springii has its arms so formedand tensioned thatthey will bear against the outer endor" the pinsiito urge the pins radially inward intotheopenings of the end member iid and, thus hold ythe brush holders #itl in assembled relation with the end member. The upper endsiof the pins have Vprojections 'ib which extend freelyintoopenings provided'by the of be spring member. Bg. this arrangement the sp i g can be easily, res moved'from the pins to permit removal` thereof.

The end 25d of the armature shaft is proT vided with a'groove di extending parallel. with 'the insulate cables 52 and 53, each including ampairiof conducting wires connected with certain armature coils 36 and having the other ends connected i., ...i contact plates 54 and 55.

The end25a of the shaft 2.5 supports a centrifugalgovernor or speed responsive device adapted 3 to control the speed of the motor. The governor, as shown, comprises a base or disc til and a hub 6i of insulating material molded about a metal sleeve 62. Plates 54 and 55 are xed to the disc said plates extending a certain distance on each side of the disc. The plate 54 supports an ad justable contact 63 while plate 55 supports an adjustable contact 64. The base also has a pair of conducting bars 65 and 66 extending therethrough to which iiat conducting springs 61 and Ela are respectively attached by rivets S8. The free ends of the springs 61 and Sla carry contacts te and 10 respectively, said springs being so biased that they hold their respective contacts engagen ment with the adjustable contacts t3 and eli. The contacts 69 and 1! will be in engagement with contacts 63 and 64 until centrifugal force overcomes the tension of the springs ti' and sia which occurs when the motor armature exceeds the speed for which the governor is adjusted. The tension of springs 6l and 61a be varied by adjusting the contacts S3, 6d. By proper adjustment of contacts 53, @Il the spring tension in -the springs is just suiiicient to hold the contacts 'l0 and break short-circuits around the resistors 'l5 and 16 shown in Fig. 5. The bars 55, 'te also project beyond the rear face of the base The rear side of disc is suitably recessed to receive with the plate 511 and the bar te; and the resistor 1B is connected with the plate 55 and the bar A resistor 12 which parallels certain armature coils is electrically connected with the bars and B6 at the front of the disc, see `Figs. 2 and In Figs. and 6, the armature coils (collectively numbered 36 in Fig. 2) are individually riesign nated by letters a to g. These coils are con nected with the commutator segments 3l as shown. A battery 8l and a switch are oonnected with the brushes 38. A conventional twopole lap armature winding is thus provided... This is equivalent to two circuits connected in parallel across the brushes or battery. One circuit includes armature coils a, g, and f in series with the control resistor 'l5 normally shorted by contacts 64 and 10. The other circuit includes coils c, d and e in series with the control resistor 'i normally shorted by contacts S3 and t9.

When the switch 80 is closed, a voltage will be impressed across the brushes te and a current will flow into the armature. This current will divide and pass through the two armature circuits thereby causing the armature to rotate at a speed depending upon the constants of the circuits. At all speeds below the desired governed speed, the governor contacts remained closed; and the speed is proportioned to the input voltu age. When the desired governed speed is reached, the governor contacts open and render the resistors l5 and 'l eiective to reduce the arma-1 ture current. The speed decreases and the governor contacts close. The speed increases and the governor contacts open again. So long as the impressed voltage is higherthan required to force normal current through the armature, this sequence of operation will be continually repeated at a comparatively high freduency'with practically negligiblespeed differential between open contact and closed contact condition.

It would be possible to control the speed of the motor by the use of the governor contacts without the control resistors, but the speed regulaa tion would be jerky and uneven due to excessive sparking at the governor contacts. Also the ybrush life would be relatively short due to indu@- "l5 and 16 connected across the governor conu tacts. sparking is further reduced and the range of voltage in which governed speed can be maintained is increased by using, with resistors 'l and 1S, one or more resistors in parallel with groups of armature coils such as resistor l2 alone (Fig. 5 or resistors 12 and 85 (Fig. 6).

lThe following example is given to show what can be accomplished. A certain electricmotor having a governor speed of 10,000 R. P. M. and designed to operate at approximately Se volts is equipped with 200 ohm resistors 'i5 and it, resister i2 being omitted. The maximum controlled voltage or maximum voltage at which governed speed can be controlled is 30.9 volts. 'When a 200 ohm resistor l2 is used with resistors and l5 the maximum controlled voltage is raised to 34.6 volts and circuit damping is stili further improved. vThat is, sparking is even less than when resistors 'l5 and 16 vare used without resistor it. The armature circuit may be used with a magnetic i'leld excited by a shunt iield wind-ing, or by a series iield winding or by a permanent magnet.

While the embodiments of the present inven tion as herein disclosed, constitute preferred forms, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

i. The combination of a commutator motor including a eld. magnet and armature windings arranged in two sections; and a governor driven by the armature of the motor and having two sets of normally closed contacts which open in response to the attainment of a predetermined speed, each set of contacts being connected in series with each section of the armature windings and having resistances each connected in parallel with a set of contacts and having at least one resistance unit connected in parallel with a section of the armature winding.

2. The combination of a commutator motor i117- cluding a field magnet and armature windings arranged in opposed sections; and a governor driven by the armature of the motor and having two sets of normally closed contacts which open in re= spouse to the attainment of a predetermined speed, each set of contacts being connected in series with opposed sections of the armature windings to complete an armature circuit and having resistances each connected in parallel with a set of contacts, said resistance being connected in series with the opposed sections oi armature winding upon separations ci the con-1 tacts, and having a resistance connected in shunt with each section of the armature windings.

3. The combination of a commutator motor amas/l including a eld magnet and armature windings REFERENCES CITED arranged in opposed sections; normally closed Centrifugal switch means for completing the The following references are of record in the armature circuit; a resistance unit connected in file 0f this patent! parallel .with the switching means, tlie arrange- 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS ment being such that at a preuetermined rise in motor speed, said switching means will open and N11-1111061' Name Date automatically include the resistance in the arma- 1,756,332 Becker Apr. 29, 1930 ture circuit; and a resistance connected in paral- 2,032,444 Schwarz c Mar. 3, 1936 lel with at least one of the sections of the arma- 10 2,176,804 Roth et al O01?. 17, 1939 ture windings. 2,348,684 Perkins May 9, 1944 RAYMOND H. SULLIVAN. 2,395,080 Stoller Feb. 19, 1946 VAUGHN H. HARDY. HERBERT C. PORTER. 

